Carnegie Mellon University Joins U.S. and Japanese Officials in Launching $110M University-Government-Industry Partnerships to Advance AI Research and Innovation
CMU is one of two U.S. universities partnering with the private sector and Japanese higher education institutions
PITTSBURGH, PA (April 9, 2024) – United States and Japanese officials today announced $110 million in research partnerships that bring together expertise from the United States and Japan, and across the public, education, and private sectors, to advance research and development in artificial intelligence (AI). Carnegie Mellon and the University of Washington are the two U.S. universities to take part in the effort. U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel, and Japanese Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Moriyama Masahito announced the agreements on the occasion of Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio’s state visit to the U.S.
CMU will partner with Keio University (Keio) to bring together faculty, researchers and students at the forefront of AI to collaborate on new ideas and solutions that contribute to the advancement of AI technology, supported by investment and collaboration with industry partners. With a focus on solving real-world problems, the partnership will establish joint research projects, workshops, and seminars to share knowledge.
“Pennsylvania is a global leader in AI development and innovation — thanks in large part to leading institutions like Carnegie Mellon University that have long embraced the promise of new technologies and harnessed their power to transform the way people live and work,” said Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro. “Artificial Intelligence is already impacting every sector of our economy — and government leaders need to lean into its innovation to adapt to the rapidly changing technology market ethically and responsibly. That’s the approach we’ve taken in Pennsylvania and why the Commonwealth has partnered with Carnegie Mellon to develop best practices for governing generative AI. This new partnership between Carnegie Mellon University and Keio University will build on Pennsylvania's and the United States’ global leadership in AI technology — and will empower our workforce, lean into innovation, and capitalize on economic opportunity.”
A related effort involves the University of Washington and the University of Tsukuba. Together, these collaborations will leverage private sector investment from several global companies, including Amazon, Arm, Microsoft, NVIDIA and SoftBank Group, as well as a consortium of Japanese companies. As part of this partnership, CMU will receive funding and collaborative support from Arm, Microsoft and SoftBank Group.
"This new partnership is global in its scope and single-minded in its purpose to advance AI research and impact,” says CMU President Farnam Jahanian. “It’s an opportunity that is tailor-made for Carnegie Mellon University and possible thanks to the leadership of Secretary Raimondo and Ambassador Emanuel. I am immensely proud of Carnegie Mellon faculty and students, whose talents and brilliance have inspired this partnership, and, together, we are grateful for the chance to work closely with our partners at Keio University, Arm, Microsoft and SoftBank Group, as well as with companies across Japan, to usher in a new era of global innovation in AI."
“Keio University has taken a leading role in Japan in AI research as well in Robotics and Image Processing,” said Kohei Itoh, president of Keio University. “We are very excited to be moving on to the next stage in our research by forming a US-Japan collaboration with Carnegie Mellon University, a globally renowned research institute in the field of AI.”
Several public and private sector leaders were in attendance at the signing ceremony hosted by the U.S. Department of Commerce, or otherwise expressed support for the partnerships.
For the CMU and Keio collaboration supported by the private sector, proposed research areas will leverage the combined research and technical expertise of all entities and will include:
- Multimodal & Multi-lingual Learning
- Embodied AI
- Autonomous AI Symbiosis with Humans
- AI for Life Sciences
- AI for Scientific Discovery; as well as
- Additional areas to be determined jointly, targeted to real-world and near-term AI applications
"The unprecedented progress we've seen in AI will transform virtually every industry and improve countless lives, but to maximize this opportunity, close cooperation will be required between the private sector, academia, and government," said Rene Haas, CEO of Arm. "Arm is extremely proud to have the opportunity to support this historic partnership as part of our overall commitment to advancing AI innovation everywhere and for everyone.”
“Collaborative research has the power to address some of the world’s toughest challenges. And in an era of AI innovation, this partnership is a timely collaboration between world-class institutions,” said Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith. “Microsoft is proud to support this effort and looks forward to what the faculty and students at these institutions will advance in the AI field.”
CMU has long been recognized as a global leader in AI since the inception of the field, and continues to be at the forefront of emerging technologies. This new partnership will be driven by the School of Computer Science, where faculty have led AI from the abstract question of building a thinking machine to concrete applications and techniques that are improving the world.
“Establishing AI research collaborations and industry partnerships on topics that align so closely with the research that’s underway at CMU are essential for making progress in advancing the best possible impacts of AI on people’s lives,” said Martial Hebert, dean of CMU’s School of Computer Science. “I’m excited for our faculty, researchers and students to start working with colleagues at Keio University who share our vision for AI development in some important areas of computer science and AI research.”
This represents the third strategic university-corporate partnership initiated between American and Japanese academic institutions and the corporate sector since May 2022. Last year, at the G7 Leaders’ Summit in Hiroshima, U.S. and Japanese universities and corporations signed partnerships in quantum computing and semiconductor engineering.
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About Carnegie Mellon University: Carnegie Mellon, cmu.edu, is a private, internationally ranked research university with acclaimed programs spanning the sciences, engineering, technology, business, public policy, humanities and the arts. Our diverse community of scholars, researchers, creators and innovators is driven to make real-world impacts that benefit people across the globe. With an unconventional, interdisciplinary and entrepreneurial approach, we do the work that matters.